I had an interesting conversation the other day about the “meaning” of a work, particularly in my recent photographs. Someone said they enjoyed my work but didn’t understand what the meaning was: What does the rose symbolize? What does the facial expression mean? My response was that meaning is not important to me – but this was not the answer they wanted… I began to contemplate the importance of meaning in my images. I realized that I am far more interested in letting the viewer search for meaning themselves. I am just the creator of ideas.

My practice lately has been: Start with a theme – Develop a scenario that involves that theme – Explore and experiment in the studio. Here the theme was “New Growth” as springtime is here. I had a rose in a vase that I took from the garden. Next I had the idea of a rose coming out of my mouth, being held, or balancing. That is it. I began shooting in the studio and this was my favorite exposure. Do I have my own thoughts of meaning, yes, but they are not important to the work.

The artist Minor White speaks of Equivalence, that a photograph functions beyond the imagery, as a symbol, and each viewer carries their own history, emotion, and interpretation of the image. My interest lies somewhere in here. Photography creates a lifelike image that we all can relate to more easily than painting, for example, and so inherently our brains are going to try to make sense of what we see, interpret it, and create some kind of meaning. Possibly that meaning is not concrete but open-ended… Therefore as the artist, I am using imagination and creativity to conjure an idea in the form of a photograph. It is not that meaning is unimportant but rather that MY meaning is not important. What is important to me is watching someone else experience and deal with it themselves.

I have a cheap attachable lens for my dSLR camera that mimics a Holga. Obviously quality is not what these toy attachables are made for, but they are fun because of that lack of perfection. The lens has many settings. This one splits the lights and copies it across your sensor. I call this something like “The Ocean X4”.

“We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came.” – I have planned a short trip to Delaware to spend some time next to the sea. Nothing inspires me and awakes my soul like being on the beach. I am going to bring my cameras, obviously, but I think this trip will be more about consciously being there and celebrating life rather than trying to bring home a work of art.

I was thinking about music, and then records, and then how vinyl is listened to by a small needle pointing to the track as it spins around. I wanted to make a simple image speaking about this in connection to the human body. I decided to make a high-key image by using a bright light as well as an all white record that I had (The White Tape by Phish). We point to things to bring attention to them. Here I used this idea of my hand in connection with analogue machines… While designing this image I had in mind paying homage to the White Album by the Beatles.

Brandt is an English photographer who photographs exclusively in the African continent. In “Inherit the Dust” (available in book form) he has set up gigantic photographs of animals that should be roaming that specific area, but are no longer due to human activity. The panoramas containing pictures inside of them serve as a reminder of the powerful impact we have on our surroundings. See more at http://www.nickbrandt.com/

Most of my recent work consists of setting up a scene, lighting it, and then photographing it. A while back I had the idea to hang a bunch of dead nature items from the ceiling. I had a collection of flowers, leafs, cacti, and so on ready to go… After the first shoot, I was unhappy with the background. After the second shoot I was unhappy with my poses. Finally, after two weeks, a few different set ups, and multiple shoots I finally got the image I imagined. The hardest thing about being an artist is when you are unhappy with he outcome, so you need to push harder… To me it speaks of life, death, before, and after.